The Main Street Station Hotel and Casino and Brewery is a and casino hotel located in downtown Las Vegas , Nevada . It is owned by Boyd Gaming . The casino is connected to California Hotel and Casino by an enclosed skywalk over Main Street.
114-801: Main Street Station offers a self-guided tour which includes a portion of the Berlin Wall , stained glass from the Lillian Russell Mansion, doors and facade from the Kuwait Royal Bank , doors from the George Pullman Mansion, Louisa May Alcott pullman car, chandeliers from the Coca-Cola building and Figaro Opera House , and various statues. The portion of the Berlin Wall is located in
228-468: A democratic parliamentary government. Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fueled a 20-year " economic miracle " ( "Wirtschaftswunder" ). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany. After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of
342-598: A "cardboard castle". There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars . Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs. The Warsaw Pact's largest military engagement was the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia , its own member state, in August 1968. Since
456-547: A "hinterland" wall (inner wall), was built some 100 m (110 yd) farther into East German territory. The houses contained between the wall and fences were razed and the inhabitants relocated, thus establishing what later became known as the death strip . The death strip was covered with raked sand or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice, easing the detection of trespassers and also enabling officers to see which guards had neglected their task; it offered no cover; and, most importantly, it offered clear fields of fire for
570-595: A dangerous descendant of the Nazis, but anyone who opposes it can't possibly have ties to the Nazis' odious ideas. There is only one problem: This argument is untrue." Other examples include statements by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene , who has compared mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust . In Chile , the insult facho pobre ("poor fascist" or "low-class fascist")
684-426: A democratic system. A growing number of scholars have posited that the political style of Trump resembles that of fascist leaders, beginning with his election campaign in 2016, continuing over the course of his presidency as he appeared to court far-right extremists , including his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election results after losing to Joe Biden , and culminating in
798-801: A detailed accounting of industrial plants, goods and infrastructure—some of which had already been removed by the Soviets. France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of Germany into one zone for reconstruction, and to approve the extension of the Marshall Plan . Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Soviet Union engineered
912-609: A far-right fringe, including the neo-Nazi-linked Azov Battalion and Right Sector , experts have described Putin's rhetoric as greatly exaggerating the influence of far-right groups within Ukraine ; there is no widespread support for the ideology in the government, military, or electorate. Russian far-right organizations also exist, such as the Russian Imperial Movement , long active in Donbas. Ukrainian president Zelenskyy, who
1026-910: A few months, Main Street Station remained closed for more than a year. It reopened on September 8, 2021. Triple 7 Restaurant and Microbrewery is operated on site and serves up to 8 microbrew beers, Six year-round house beers on tap are: Royal Red Ale, High Roller Gold Ale, Marker Pale Ale, Black Chip Porter, IPA, Double Down Hefeweizen. In addition, Triple 7 offers Brewmaster Special and Brewmaster Reserve, which are two rotating/seasonal selections. Some of these have included Mango Hef, Black Cherry Porter, Saison du Trip, Bad Guys Wear Black Imperial Stout, and experimental IPAs . 36°10′27″N 115°08′44″W / 36.174266°N 115.145441°W / 36.174266; -115.145441 Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall ( German : Berliner Mauer , pronounced [bɛʁˌliːnɐ ˈmaʊɐ] )
1140-565: A few places it was some distance from the legal border, most notably at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development. Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of
1254-402: A hostile land. West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall, led by their Mayor ( Oberbürgermeister ) Willy Brandt , who criticized the United States for failing to respond and went so far as to suggest to Washington what to do next. Kennedy was furious. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees, but the main candidate for its location was around
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#17328443226651368-485: A permit. After the 1972 agreements, new crossings were opened to allow West Berlin waste to be transported into East German dumps, as well as some crossings for access to West Berlin's exclaves (see Steinstücken ). Four autobahns connected West Berlin to West Germany, including Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn , which entered East German territory between the towns of Helmstedt and Marienborn (Checkpoint Alpha), and which entered West Berlin at Dreilinden (Checkpoint Bravo for
1482-513: A pretext for his invasion of Ukraine. After the EU banned Serbia from importing Russian oil through Croatian Adriatic Pipeline in October 2022, Serbian news station B92 wrote that the sanctions came after: "insisting of ustasha regime from Zagreb and its ustasha prime minister Andrej Plenković ". Vulin described the EU as "the club of countries which had their divisions under Stalingrad ". In 1944,
1596-405: A public relations disaster for the communist bloc as a whole. Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after East German border guards shot and killed would-be defectors. Such fatalities were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany. The Berlin Wall was more than 140 kilometres (87 mi) long. In June 1962, a second, parallel fence, also known as
1710-414: A significant role in the national discourse." According to cultural critic Noah Berlatsky writing for NBC News , in an effort to erase leftist victims of Nazi violence, "they've actually inverted the truth, implying that Nazis themselves were leftists", and "are part of a history of far-right disavowal, projection and escalation intended to provide a rationale for retaliation." An example of this belief
1824-559: A synonym for bully . During the Cold War , the Soviet Union was categorized by its former World War II allies as totalitarian alongside fascist Nazi Germany to convert pre- World War II anti-fascism into post-war anti-communism , and debates around the comparison of Nazism and Stalinism intensified. Both sides in the Cold War also used the insults fascist and fascism against
1938-453: A trope of anti-LGBT activism. In his 21 February speech , which started the events leading to the Russian invasion of Ukraine , Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely accused Ukraine of being governed by Neo-Nazis who persecute the ethnic Russian minority and Russian-speaking Ukrainians . Putin's claims about "de-Nazification" have been widely described as absurd. While Ukraine has
2052-574: A weakness. In the 1961 Vienna summit , Kennedy made the error of admitting that the US would not actively oppose the building of a barrier. A feeling of miscalculation and failure immediately afterwards was admitted by Kennedy in a candid interview with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston . On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee , in
2166-517: A wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There, Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall. At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along
2280-534: A year. Boyd Gaming purchased the defunct property in 1993 for $ 16.5 million, and also acquired an adjacent lot from the city to use for a parking garage. After spending another $ 45 million on renovations, Boyd reopened Main Street Station in November 1996. The property is popular among Hawaiians. Nevada casinos were ordered to close in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state . Although most casinos reopened within
2394-510: Is Jewish, rebuked Putin's allegations, stating that his grandfather had served in the Soviet army fighting against the Nazis. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem condemned the abuse of Holocaust history and the use of comparisons with Nazi ideology for propaganda. Several Ukrainian politicians, military leader and members of the Ukrainian civil society have also accused
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#17328443226652508-486: Is a smear word more often used to brand one's foes than it is a descriptor used to shed light on them." In the 1980s, the term was used by leftist critics to describe the presidency of Ronald Reagan . The term was later used in the 2000s to describe the presidency of George W. Bush by its critics and in the late 2010s to describe the candidacy and presidencies of Donald Trump . In her 1970 book Beyond Mere Obedience , radical activist and theologian Dorothee Sölle coined
2622-478: Is conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg 's book Liberal Fascism , which depicts modern liberalism and progressivism in the United States as the children of fascism. Writing for The Washington Post , historian Ronald J. Granieri stated that this "has become a silver bullet for voices on the right like Dinesh D'Souza and Candace Owens : Not only is the reviled left, embodied in 2020 by figures like Sanders , Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren ,
2736-501: Is used against people of perceived working class status with right-leaning views, is the equivalent to class traitor or lumpenproletariat , and it has been the subject of significant analysis, including by figures such as the sociologist Alberto Mayol and political commentator Carlos Peña González . The origin of the insult can possibly be traced back to the massive use in Chile of social networks and their use in political discussions, but
2850-656: The "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany. Yuri Andropov , then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August 1958 to the Central Committee about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that
2964-468: The 1922 Committee , the 1941 Committee , Kipling , Gandhi , Chiang Kai-Shek , homosexuality, Priestley 's broadcasts, Youth Hostels , astrology , women, dogs and I do not know what else. ... [T]he people who recklessly fling the word 'Fascist' in every direction attach at any rate an emotional significance to it. By 'Fascism' they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for
3078-493: The 2021 United States Capitol attack . As these events have unfolded, some commentators who had initially resisted applying the label to Trump came out in favor of it, including conservative legal scholar Steven G. Calabresi and conservative commentator Michael Gerson . After the attack on the Capitol, the historian of fascism Robert O. Paxton went so far as to state that Trump is a fascist, despite his earlier objection to using
3192-513: The American right wing , fascist is frequently used as an insult to imply that Nazism , and by extension fascism , was a socialist and left-wing ideology, which is contrary to the consensus among scholars of fascism. According to the History News Network , this belief that fascism is left-wing "has become widely accepted conventional wisdom among American conservatives, and has played
3306-565: The Cold War era and the dissolution of the Soviet Union . The official Soviet version of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was described as "Fascist, Hitlerite, reactionary and counter-revolutionary hooligans financed by the imperialist West [which] took advantage of the unrest to stage a counter-revolution." Some rank-and-file Soviet soldiers reportedly believed they were being sent to East Berlin to fight German fascists. The Soviet-backed German Democratic Republic 's official name for
3420-562: The Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave. Taking advantage of the zonal border between occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000 in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952; and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization , given the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. In
3534-603: The February 2014 Ukrainian revolution , through the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the outbreak of the war in Donbass , Russian nationalists and state media used the term. They frequently described the Ukrainian government after Euromaidan as fascist or Nazi , at the same time using antisemitic canards , such as accusing them of "Jewish influence", and stating that they were spreading " gay propaganda ",
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3648-527: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , The New York Times declared on 18 September 1939 that "Hitlerism is brown communism, Stalinism is red fascism ." Later, in 1944, the anti-fascist and socialist writer George Orwell commented on Tribune that fascism had been rendered almost meaningless by its common use as an insult against various people, and argued that in England the word fascist had become
3762-477: The Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context. The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht, on 1 August in
3876-539: The Soviet Union made frequent use of the fascist insult coming from its conflict with the early German and Italian fascist movements. The label was widely used in press and political language to describe the ideological opponents of the Bolsheviks, such as the White movement . Later, from 1928 to the mid-1930s, it was even applied to social democracy , which was called social fascism and even regarded by communist parties as
3990-487: The United States , with the latter grouping becoming largely united in 1949 under NATO and the former grouping becoming largely united in 1955 under the Warsaw Pact . As the Soviet Union already had an armed presence and political domination all over its eastern satellite states by 1955, the pact has been long considered "superfluous", and because of the rushed way in which it was conceived, NATO officials labeled it
4104-511: The attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania , Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance wrote that "[t]he central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination." He also stated that Kelly and Milley are "disgruntled former employees". In
4218-726: The leaders of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era acted as red fascists were commonly stated by both left-wing and right-wing critics. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, fascist was used in the USSR to describe virtually any anti-Soviet activity or opinion. In line with the Third Period , fascism was considered the "final phase of crisis of bourgeoisie ", which "in fascism sought refuge" from "inherent contradictions of capitalism ", and almost every Western capitalist country
4332-579: The " Wall of Shame ", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement . Along with the separate and much longer inner German border , which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the Iron Curtain that separated the Western Bloc and Soviet satellite states of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War . Before
4446-673: The "Brain Drain". In 1948, in response to moves by the Western powers to establish a separate, federal system of government in the Western zones, and to extend the US Marshall Plan of economic assistance to Germany, the Soviets instituted the Berlin Blockade , preventing people, food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin by land routes through the Soviet zone. The United States,
4560-494: The "death strip", over 116 watchtowers , and 20 bunkers with hundreds of guards. This version of the Wall is the one most commonly seen in photographs, and surviving fragments of the Wall in Berlin and elsewhere around the world are generally pieces of the fourth-generation Wall. The layout came to resemble the inner German border in most technical aspects, except that the Berlin Wall had no landmines nor spring-guns . Maintenance
4674-414: The 156 km (97 mi) around the three western sectors, and the 43 km (27 mi) that divided West and East Berlin. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany. The barrier was built inside East Berlin on East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside East Berlin, but in
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4788-468: The 1940s and 1950s labeled the Soviet Union as fascist , and stated that it posed the same threat as the Axis Powers had posed during World War II. Accusations that the enemy was fascist were used to justify opposition to negotiations and compromise, with the argument that the enemy would always act in a manner similar to Adolf Hitler or Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The Bolshevik movement and later
4902-523: The Allied forces) in southwestern Berlin. Access to West Berlin was also possible by railway (four routes) and by boat for commercial shipping via canals and rivers. Fascist (insult) Fascist has been used as a pejorative or insult against a wide range of people, political movements, governments, and institutions since the emergence of fascism in Europe in the 1920s. Political commentators on both
5016-921: The Barricades in January 1991, which followed the May 1990 " On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia " independence declaration of the Republic of Latvia from the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union declared that "fascism was reborn in Latvia." In 2006, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found contrary to the Article 10 (freedom of expression) of
5130-535: The Berlin Wall was the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart ( German : Antifaschistischer Schutzwall ). After the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai denounced the Soviet Union for "fascist politics, great power chauvinism, national egoism and social imperialism ", comparing the invasion to the Vietnam War and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia . During
5244-694: The ECHR fining a journalist for calling a right-wing journalist "local neo-fascist", regarding the statement as a value-judgment acceptable in the circumstances. During the Euromaidan demonstrations in January 2014, the Slavic Anti-Fascist Front was created in Crimea by Russian member of parliament Aleksey Zhuravlyov and Crimean Russian Unity party leader and future head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov to oppose "fascist uprising" in Ukraine. After
5358-448: The East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit the FRG and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side, and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall over the next few weeks. The Brandenburg Gate , a few meters from the Berlin Wall, reopened on 22 December 1989, with demolition of
5472-425: The East German government's general policy of benign neglect, vandals were known to have been pursued in the outer strip, and even arrested. In 1986, defector and political activist Wolfram Hasch and four other defectors were standing inside the outer strip defacing the wall when East German personnel emerged from one of the hidden doors to apprehend them. All but Hasch escaped back into the western sector. Hasch himself
5586-566: The East Germans took for such a move. They considered the Wall as an end to concerns about a GDR/Soviet retaking or capture of the whole of Berlin; the Wall would presumably have been an unnecessary project if such plans were afloat. Thus, they concluded that the possibility of a Soviet military conflict over Berlin had decreased. The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" ( German : "antifaschistischer Schutzwall" ) intended to dissuade aggression from
5700-468: The East. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. Most people believed that the Wall was mainly a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin. The National Security Agency was the only American intelligence agency that was aware that East Germany was to take action to deal with the brain drain problem. On 9 August 1961,
5814-451: The English writer, democratic socialist , and anti-fascist George Orwell wrote about the term's overuse as an insult , arguing: It will be seen that, as used, the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit , corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting,
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#17328443226655928-452: The GDR through the Soviet embassy and through the implicit threat of force which could be exercised through the continuing large Soviet military presence in the GDR, which was used to repress protests in East Germany bloodily in June 1953 . East Germany differed from West Germany ( Federal Republic of Germany ), which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy and
6042-476: The GDR which came into force that day. However, until 1955, the Soviets maintained considerable legal control over the GDR state, including the regional governments, through the Sowetische Kontrollkommission and maintained a presence in various East German administrative, military, and secret police structures. Even after legal sovereignty of the GDR was restored in 1955, the Soviet Union continued to maintain considerable influence over administration and lawmaking in
6156-407: The GDR. Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable". He advised the East Germans to build up their border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border—and not just any border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans will guard the line of defence with their lives." Consequently, the inner German border between the two German states
6270-414: The Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn , the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German-East German border, US personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 km (99 mi) long, and covered 177 km (110 mi) from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear. East German police watched from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along. The front of
6384-405: The Left and the Right accused their opponents of being fascists, starting in the years before World War II . In 1928, the Communist International labeled their social democratic opponents as social fascists , while the social democrats themselves as well as some parties on the political right accused the Communists of having become fascist under Joseph Stalin 's leadership. In light of
6498-401: The NSA intercepted an advance warning information of the Socialist Unity Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border." This warning did not reach John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961, while he
6612-543: The Russian Federation of being a fascist country . Ukrainian propaganda also compares Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler , calling him a " Putler ," and Russian troops to the Nazis , calling them a mixture of Russians and fascists, " ruscists ." During the 1990s, in the midst of the Yugoslav wars , Serbian media often disseminated inflammatory statements in order to stigmatize and dehumanize adversaries, with Croats being denigrated as " Ustasha " (Croatian fascists). In modern Serbia, Dragan J. Vučićević, editor-in-chief of
6726-411: The Serbian defense minister commented on the barred visit by saying that modern Croatia is a "follower of Ante Pavelić's fascist ideology." The Croatian authorities searched them and returned them to Serbia with the explanation that they cannot bring official uniforms into Croatia and that they do not have documents that justify the purpose of their stay in the country. In June 2022, Aleksandar Vučić
6840-402: The Soviets gave East Germany authority over civilian movement in Berlin, passing control to a regime not recognized in the West. Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to allow its residents access to West Germany. However, following the defection of large numbers of East Germans (known as Republikflucht ) under this regime, the new East German state legally restricted virtually all travel to
6954-485: The US ( Berlin Brigade ), and France ( Forces Françaises à Berlin ). On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry Regiment (commanded by Colonel Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted. On Sunday morning, U.S. troops marched from West Germany through East Germany, bound for West Berlin. Lead elements—arranged in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men, divided into five march units—left
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#17328443226657068-455: The United Kingdom, France , Canada , Australia , New Zealand and several other countries began a massive " airlift ", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted
7182-437: The United States, fascist is used by both the left-wing and right-wing, and its use in American political discourse is contentious. Several U.S. presidencies have been described as fascistic. In 2004, Samantha Power , a lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University , reflected Orwell's words from 60 years prior when she stated: "Fascism – unlike communism, socialism, capitalism, or conservatism –
7296-469: The United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union . The capital, Berlin , as the seat of the Allied Control Council , was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city's location, which was fully within the Soviet zone. Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient, and to
7410-506: The Wall also separated West Berlin from the present-day state of Brandenburg . The following present-day municipalities, listed in counter-clockwise direction, share a border with the former West Berlin: There were nine border crossings between East and West Berlin. These allowed visits by West Berliners, other West Germans, Western foreigners and Allied personnel into East Berlin, as well as visits by GDR citizens and citizens of other socialist countries into West Berlin, provided that they held
7524-423: The Wall beginning on 13 June 1990 and concluding in 1994. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification , which formally took place on 3 October 1990. After the end of World War II in Europe , what remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (as per the Potsdam Agreement ), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers :
7638-545: The Wall guards. Through the years, the Berlin Wall evolved through four versions: The "fourth-generation Wall", known officially as " Stützwandelement UL 12.11 " (retaining wall element UL 12.11), was the final and most sophisticated version of the Wall. Begun in 1975 and completed about 1980, it was constructed from 45,000 separate sections of reinforced concrete, each 3.6 metres (12 ft) high and 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide, and cost DDM 16,155,000 or about US$ 3,638,000. The concrete provisions added to this version of
7752-556: The Wall were done to prevent escapees from driving their cars through the barricades. At strategic points, the Wall was constructed to a somewhat weaker standard, so that East German and Soviet armored vehicles could easily break through in the event of war. The top of the wall was lined with a smooth pipe, intended to make it more difficult to scale. The Wall was reinforced by mesh fencing , signal fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire , dogs on long lines, " beds of nails " (also known as "Stalin's Carpet") under balconies hanging over
7866-564: The Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West . The Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from " fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a communist state in the GDR. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart ( German : Antifaschistischer Schutzwall , pronounced [antifaˌʃɪstɪʃɐ ˈʃʊtsval] ). Conversely, West Berlin's city government sometimes referred to it as
7980-503: The Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989, the deadly force associated with the Wall prevented almost all such emigration. During this period, over 100,000 people attempted to escape, and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over
8094-501: The Wall, with an estimated death toll of those murdered by East German authorities ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin. In 1989, a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries ( Poland and Hungary in particular) and the events of the " Pan-European Picnic " set in motion a peaceful development during which the Iron Curtain largely broke, rulers in the East came under public pressure to cease their repressive policies. After several weeks of civil unrest,
8208-484: The West in 1956. Soviet East German ambassador Mikhail Pervukhin observed that "the presence in Berlin of an open and essentially uncontrolled border between the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly prompts the population to make a comparison between both parts of the city, which unfortunately does not always turn out in favour of Democratic [East] Berlin." With the closing of the inner German border officially in 1952,
8322-488: The West) has been estimated at $ 7 billion to $ 9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $ 17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses. In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to
8436-543: The West. Another official justification was the activities of Western agents in Eastern Europe. The Eastern German government also claimed that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized goods in East Berlin. East Germans and others greeted such statements with skepticism, as most of the time, the border was only closed for citizens of East Germany traveling to the West, but not for residents of West Berlin travelling to
8550-603: The Western zones of Berlin began to improve quickly, and residents of the Soviet zone soon began leaving for the West in large numbers, fleeing hunger, poverty and repression in the Soviet Zone for a better life in the West. Soon residents of other parts of the Soviet zone began to escape to the West through Berlin, and this migration, called in Germany "Republikflucht", deprived the Soviet zone not only of working forces desperately needed for post-war reconstruction but disproportionately of highly educated people, which came to be known as
8664-461: The Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A wide no man's land was cleared as well to provide a better overview and a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees. With the closing of
8778-594: The blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin. The German Democratic Republic (the "GDR"; East Germany) was declared on 7 October 1949. On that day, the USSR ended the Soviet military government which had governed the Soviet Occupation Zone (Sowetische Besatzungszone) since the end of the War and handed over legal power to the Provisorische Volkskammer under the new Constitution of
8892-473: The border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible because it was administered by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany. It had the unintended result of drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by
9006-404: The city". The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stemming the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: despite discontent with the Wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were largely eliminated. The economy in the GDR began to grow. However, the Wall proved
9120-468: The convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin in front of a large crowd. At 04:00 on 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left West Berlin in the hands of General Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade of 4,224 officers and men. "For the next three and a half years, American battalions would rotate into West Berlin, by autobahn, at three-month intervals to demonstrate Allied rights to
9234-506: The demarcation lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places. On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during the discussions, Stalin's foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East Germans should "introduce a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free movement of Western agents" in
9348-407: The east–west sector boundary in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans could no longer travel or emigrate to West Germany. Berlin soon went from being the easiest place to make an unauthorized crossing between East and West Germany to being the most difficult. Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated exclave in
9462-411: The end of 1958. Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and subway train access still available to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective. The Berlin sector border was essentially a " loophole " through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of
9576-480: The end of the War, the USSR installed a Soviet-style regime in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and later founded the GDR, with the country's political system based on a centrally planned socialist economic model with nationalized means of production, and with repressive secret police institutions, under party dictatorship of the SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands; Socialist Unity Party of Germany) similar to
9690-525: The entire East German population. An important reason that passage between East Germany and West Berlin was not stopped earlier was that doing so would cut off much of the railway traffic in East Germany. Construction of a new railway bypassing West Berlin, the Berlin outer ring , commenced in 1951. Following the completion of the railway in 1961, closing the border became a more practical proposition. The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to
9804-635: The erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired general, Lucius D. Clay , was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor with ambassadorial rank. Clay had been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered the first measures in what became the Berlin Airlift . He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment
9918-506: The first six months of 1953, 226,000 had fled. By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement, restricting emigration, was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural—especially where no prior border existed between East and West Germany. Up until 1952,
10032-457: The installation of communist regimes in most of the countries occupied by Soviet military forces at the end of the War, including Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and the GDR, which together with Albania formed the Comecon in 1949 and later a military alliance, the Warsaw Pact . The beginning of the Cold War saw the Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union confront the Western Bloc of
10146-455: The insult is a sort of "left-wing classism " ( Spanish : roteo de izquierda ) and implies that "certain ideas can only be defended by the priviledged class." In 2019, left-wing deputy and future President Gabriel Boric publicly criticized the phrase facho pobre as belonging to an "elitist left" , and warned that its use may lead to political isolation. During the Israel-Hamas war ,
10260-639: The men's restroom and has urinals affixed to it. The property opened as the Holiday International in 1978. The property's casino, operated by Major Riddle , closed in September 1980 after going into bankruptcy. The hotel, a Holiday Inn franchise, closed in 1984, following an extended strike by workers. The property reopened in 1987 as the Park Hotel and Casino, developed by Japanese investor Katsuki Manabe. The Park closed in 1990. Main Street Station
10374-690: The most dangerous form of fascism for a time. In Germany, the Communist Party of Germany , which had been largely controlled by the Soviet leadership since 1928, used the insult fascism to describe both the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Nazi Party (NSDAP). In Soviet usage, the German Nazis were described as fascists until 1939, when the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, after which Nazi–Soviet relations started to be presented positively in Soviet propaganda . Meanwhile, accusations that
10488-721: The necessary permits. These crossings were restricted according to which nationality was allowed to use it (East Germans, West Germans, West Berliners, other countries). The best known was the vehicle and pedestrian checkpoint at the corner of Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße ( Checkpoint Charlie ), which was restricted to Allied personnel and foreigners. Several other border crossings existed between West Berlin and surrounding East Germany. These could be used for transit between West Germany and West Berlin, for visits by West Berliners into East Germany, for transit into countries neighbouring East Germany (Poland, Czechoslovakia , and Denmark), and for visits by East Germans into West Berlin carrying
10602-537: The other. In the Soviet Union, they were used to describe anti-Soviet activism, and East Germany officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall." Across the Eastern Bloc , the term anti-fascist became synonymous with the Communist state – party line and denoted the struggle against dissenters and the broader Western world . In the United States , early supporters of an aggressive foreign policy and domestic anti-communist measures in
10716-456: The outside of the wall Unlike the inner German border, however, the outer strip was usually no more than four meters wide, and, in photos from the era, the exact location of the actual border in many places appears not even to have been marked. Also in contrast with the inner German border, little interest was shown by East German law enforcement in keeping outsiders off the outer strip; sidewalks of West Berlin streets even ran inside it. Despite
10830-538: The party dictatorship of the Soviet Communist Party in the USSR. At the same time, a parallel country was established under the control of the Western powers in the zones of post-war Germany occupied by them, culminating in the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, which initially claimed to be the sole legitimate power in all of Germany, East and West. The material standard of living in
10944-478: The perimeter of the city. In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed, "The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent feature of the European landscape. I see no reason why the Soviet Union should think it is to their advantage in any way to leave there that monument to communist failure." United States and UK sources had expected the Soviet sector to be sealed off from West Berlin but were surprised by how long
11058-517: The political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative. The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy way to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these advantages, however, proved particularly useful. On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of
11172-528: The reasons were more political than material. He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase." By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war. The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers, and skilled workers. The direct cost of manpower losses to East Germany (and corresponding gain to
11286-608: The relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist'. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come. Historian Stanley G. Payne argues that after World War II, fascism assumed a quasi-religious position within Western culture as a form of absolute moral evil. This gives its use as an insult a particularly strong form of social power that any other equivalent term lacks, which Payne argues encourages its overuse as it offers an extremely easy way to stigmatize and assert power over an opponent. In
11400-477: The same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. Nevertheless, Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for some time, arguing that East Germany's existence was at stake. Khrushchev had become emboldened upon seeing US president John F. Kennedy 's youth and inexperience, which he considered
11514-548: The state of Israel has been called fascist. For instance, on October 11, 2024, Nicaragua broke off relations with Israel, calling the Israeli government "fascist" and "genocidal." During the Israel-Hamas war , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian -Sunni Islamist organization Hamas the " new Nazis ". On 27 November 2023, Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that "there are 2 million Nazis" in
11628-425: The tabloid and propaganda flagship Informer , holds the belief that the "vast majority of Croatian nation are Ustaše" and thus ''fascists''. The same notion is sometimes drawn through his tabloid's writings. In 2019, after a Serbian armed forces delegation was barred from entering Croatia without prior state notice to visit Jasenovac concentration camp Memorial Site in their official uniforms, Aleksandar Vulin ,
11742-535: The term Christofascist to describe fundamentalist Christians . In response to multiple authors claiming that the then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was a fascist , a 2016 article for Vox cited five historians who study fascism, including Roger Griffin , author of The Nature of Fascism , who stated that Trump either does not hold and even is opposed to several political viewpoints that are integral to fascism, including viewing violence as an inherent good and an inherent rejection of or opposition to
11856-413: The term in this way. Other historians of fascism such as Richard J. Evans , Griffin, and Stanley Payne continue to disagree that fascism is an appropriate term to describe Trump's politics . Leading up to the 2024 presidential election , several political figures have described Trump as a fascist, including John F. Kelly , Mark Milley , Joe Biden , Tim Walz , and Kamala Harris . Following
11970-787: Was fascist , with the Third Reich being just the "most reactionary " one. The international investigation on Katyn massacre was described as "fascist libel" and the Warsaw Uprising as "illegal and organised by fascists." In Poland during the Polish People's Republic , communist propaganda referred to the Home Army ( Polish : Armia Krajowa ) as a fascist organization. Polish Communist Security Service ( Polish : Służba Bezpieczeństwa ) described Trotskyism , Titoism , and imperialism as "variants of fascism." This use continued into
12084-614: Was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for
12198-537: Was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. As a symbolic gesture, Kennedy sent Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to West Berlin. They landed at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 August 1961 and were greeted enthusiastically by the local population. They arrived in a city defended by three Allied brigades—one each from the UK ( Berlin Infantry Brigade ),
12312-425: Was arrested, dragged through the door into the death strip, and later convicted of illegally crossing the de jure border outside the wall. Graffiti artist Thierry Noir has reported having often been pursued there by East German soldiers. While some graffiti artists were chased off the outer strip, others, such as Keith Haring , were seemingly tolerated. Besides the sector-sector boundary within Berlin itself,
12426-405: Was closed, and a barbed-wire fence erected. The border between the Western and Eastern sectors of Berlin, however, remained open, although traffic between the Soviet and the Western sectors was somewhat restricted. This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet for East Germans desperate to escape life in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1955,
12540-530: Was initially proposed as a redevelopment project, Church Street Station , controversially including a strip-frontage property acquired via eminent domain whose valuation persists in litigation. Failing to obtain the property in time, the casino-hotel was developed from the existing Park hotel on an $ 82 million budget by Florida developer Bob Snow in the image of his then-highly successful Orlando attraction, also called Church Street Station , in August 1991. The hotel/casino/club-hop in that form lasted less than
12654-469: Was performed on the outside of the wall by personnel who accessed the area outside it either via ladders or via hidden doors within the wall. These doors could not be opened by a single person, needing two separate keys in two separate keyholes to unlock. As was the case with the inner German border, an unfortified strip of Eastern territory was left outside the wall. This outer strip was used by workers to paint over graffiti and perform other maintenance on
12768-407: Was popularized in the aftermath of the 2017 Chilean general election , where right-wing Sebastián Piñera won the presidency with a strong working class voter base. Peña González calls the essence of the insult "the worst of the paternalisms: the belief that ordinary people ... do not know what they want and betray their true interest at the time of choice", while writer Oscar Contardo states that
12882-565: Was prevented from entering Croatia to visit the Jasenovac Memorial Site by Croatian authorities due to him not announcing his visit through official diplomatic channels which is a common practice. As a response to that certain Serbian ministers labeled Andrej Plenković 's government as "ustasha government" with some tabloids calling Croatia fascist. Historian Alexander Korb compared these labels with Putin's labels of Ukraine being fascist as
12996-547: Was vacationing in his yacht off the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts . While Kennedy was angry that he had no advance warning, he was relieved that the East Germans and the Soviets had only divided Berlin without taking any action against West Berlin's access to the West. However, he denounced the Berlin Wall, whose erection worsened the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. In response to
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